On the other side of this great round world is a country called China.
When it is dark here, and we are going to sleep, the sun is just waking
up the children in China and telling them it is morning. When we get
up in the morning they are just bidding the sun good night. When it is
light here it is dark there. So they have day when we have night.
Chinese children look like little men and women, for they dress like
their fathers and mothers. Boys and girls dress nearly alike. They
both dress in silk or cotton trousers. They wear over these long gowns
reaching nearly to their feet. They wear odd-looking shoes with thick
white soles. The boys' heads are shaved, except a small part on top.
There a lock of hair is left. This lock of hair is braided and hangs
down the back. A queer name is given to it. It is called a "queue."
Girls in China do not go to school, but all day long they are busy;
they help their mothers keep house; they tend the babies; they sew, and
help with the cooking.
[Illustration: Chinese Women and Children.]
The schools in China are only for boys. The boys make a great deal of
noise in school. A Chinese teacher thinks the boys are idle if they do
not study their lessons out loud. So each boy shouts as loud as he
can. When the boy has learned his lesson, he goes up and gives his
book to the teacher. Then he turns his back to the teacher, and shouts
out the whole lesson to show that he knows it.
The boys are taught to count. They learn by using balls set in a
frame. The frame is like the frame of a slate. The balls slide on
wires. With the balls they learn to add and subtract.
They also learn how to write, but they have no pens or pencils. They
write with small brushes dipped in ink. Each boy makes his own ink.
He puts some water on a stone and then rubs a cake of ink in the water.
This makes a fine black ink called India ink. Then the boy fills his
brush and begins at the top, right-hand corner of the paper. He writes
toward the bottom of the sheet. He puts one word under another instead
of beside it as you do. Then he begins a new line at the top, and
writes to the bottom again.
[Illustration: Chinese writing.]
Chinese books are printed in the same way. Where do you think a
Chinese book begins? A Chinese book begins where our books end.
In China many girls and women have very small feet. When they are
babies their feet are bound up tightly. They sometimes wear iron
shoes. Then their feet never grow, but are so very small that they
can hardly walk. Poor parents know their girls will have to work hard,
and so do not bind their feet.
Chinese girls make beautiful paper flowers. They paint pictures. They
sing and play. Some of them pick the snow-white cotton in the fields.
Some of them take care of the silk-worms that spin the soft silk.
But they do not work all the time. They play many pretty games.
Chinese boys, too, have many kinds of games and toys. One game is
like battledoor and shuttlecock. They use their feet to strike the
shuttlecock. They do this so fast that the shuttlecock hardly ever
falls to the ground. The Chinese are fond of flying kites. Even old
men fly kites. They fly their kites in the spring-time. Chinese kites
are of all sizes and shapes. Some are like birds. Some are like fish.
Some are like butterflies.
[Illustration: Chinese Kite.]
There is no other such land in all the world
for lanterns as China. The lanterns there are made of paper in the
shape of balls, or flowers, or animals. Some of the lanterns have a
wheel inside. When the candle is lighted, the draft of air makes the
wheel go round very quickly. When the wheel begins to move inside, the
figures on the outside of the lantern begin to move. Then men are seen
fishing or fanning. Sometimes children are seen dancing.
The Chinese are so fond of lanterns that every year they have a "Feast
of Lanterns." On that day and night lanterns are to be seen
everywhere. Bridges and houses and trees are covered with lighted
lanterns.
They have fireworks, too, that look like stars and trees and flowers.
A Chinese dinner begins in the wrong way. They have fruits and nuts
first. After this comes rice. They eat more of rice than of anything
else. Then they drink tea without either milk or sugar. They use
neither forks nor knives. Instead they eat with small sticks of wood
or ivory. These are called "chopsticks." They hold them between the
thumb and first two fingers. They use them to carry their food to
their mouths as you use a fork or a spoon.
[Illustration: Chopsticks.]
Do you know how they catch fish in China?
They have a bird which swims and dives into the water. This bird lives
on fish. Every time he dives he catches one. He is trained to bring
the fish to his master. A tight ring is put round the bird's neck.
This is to keep him from swallowing the fish. When enough fish have
been caught, the bird is given some to eat. This bird is called a
cormorant.
A Chinese fisherman lives in his fishing boat. But China is a very
crowded country. So other men as well as fishermen live on small
flatboats in the rivers near the big towns. Ducks and other fowls are
raised on these boats. The people on the water are as busy as the
people on the land.
In China houses are one story high. They are built of wood. The roofs
slope, and are made of sticks woven together. The churches are called
pagodas. They are not like our churches, but are tall, like towers.
They are usually nine stories high. They have little bells hung all
around the roof. These bells ring when the wind blows them back and
forth.
[Illustration: Chinese Boats and Pagoda.]
Between the houses are narrow streets without sidewalks. There are no
wagons. If a lady goes to make a call, she sends for a sort of covered
chair. This has long poles on each side. The chair is set on the
ground before her door. After she gets in, men lift the poles to their
shoulders. In this way they carry her. Baggage and heavy articles are
also carried on the shoulders of men.
[Illustration: Covered Chair with Poles.]
But perhaps the most wonderful thing in China is the Great Wall. It
was built by kings a long time ago. They wanted to keep savage people
from coming into the country. The wall is built very high and very
wide. It is so wide in some places that eight horses can be driven on
top of it side by side. It is hundreds of miles long. The people of
China think it is very wonderful. They think there is nothing so
wonderful in all the rest of the world.
[Illustration: The Great Wall.]
China seems a curious country. Boys shout out loud in school. They
read and write backward. Men fly kites, like boys. Women have feet as
small as babies' feet. At dinner nuts and fruits are eaten first. Men
work like animals. There are many ways in which the Chinese are
different from the people in our country.